1 May 2000

£ Boost for Dundee research into nuclear test veterans

University of Dundee studies into nuclear test veterans have been given a financial boost representing half of a donation made to the veterans by the New Zealand government

The New Zealand Minister of Veterans' Affairs, Mark Burton, handed a cheque for NZ$200,000 to the Chairman of the New Zealand Nuclear Tests Veterans Association, Mr Roy Sefton QSM at the Association's AGM on Saturday April 29 in Palmerston North. The Association, which is a charitable trust, will be able to use the money to further objectives to assist those 528 New Zealand men who took part in Operation Grapple, part of the UK nuclear weapons tests on Christmas Island in 1957-8. The Minister noted that "Research has indicated possible correlation between participation in the tests and the development of cancers. Many servicemen believe there is a link between their radiation exposure and disabilities in their children." He further stated that "By agreement with the Association, the $200,000 grant will be made to assist the purposes of the Association, including further research and other initiatives to provide support for veterans and their families."

In November 1999 the previous New Zealand government accepted the recommendations of the Inquiry into the Health Status of Children of Vietnam and Operation Grapple Veterans, that these children should have special access to medical care and special assistance. A report is expected by the end of May on the implementation of those recommendations.

The Chairman of the NZNTVA, Roy Sefton QSM, has indicated that half the $200,000 grant will be contracted to the University of Dundee to continue the studies of New Zealand and UK veterans of Operation Grapple begun in 1997 by Sue Rabbitt Roff.

The New Zealand War Pensions Medical Research Trust made a NZ$30,000 grant to the NZNTVA and Dundee University in 1999 to begin the Clinical Assessment Programme studies that were indicated as necessary by the data reported by Roff in July 1999 on ten per cent of the UK men who participated in the UK weapons tests in the 1950s and 1960s. The high incidence of death from possibly radiogenic cancers, particularly multiple myeloma, and the long term ill health of the men from a combination of skin, gastric and skeletal conditions that are known to be causable by radiation was mirrored in the data from the New Zealand veterans collected by Ruth McKenzie of the NZNTVA and analysed by Roff at Dundee University. This study was the first also to indicate probable genetic effects among the offspring of the veterans.

In late 1999 the UK National Radiological Protection Board was commissioned by the Ministry of Defence to re-open its study into the causes of death among nuclear test veterans. A blue ribbon Oversight Committee for that restudy has insisted all causes of death be studied. Roff has been invited to share her data on the multiple myeloma cases in particular with the NRPB in the late summer of 2000 as part of a double blind study.

Roff said "With excellent support from the senior members of Dundee University Medical School my colleague Mr Paul Preece and myself have been able to put together a world class team of experts who can take the research to a new level, beyond the mere statistical. The funding from the New Zealand government will enable us to begin pilot studies of the blood and saliva of surviving nuclear test veterans to establish the amount of damage their systems have received from their radiation exposures forty or more years ago. This is a relatively new area of medical research and it happens that we have excellent researchers at both Dundee and nearby St Andrews University who are standing by to begin the studies once we receive the funding. We are very optimistic that the work will enable us to develop a diagnostic system for use in the nuclear industry in all its forms to establish occupational health hazards. But it will also help us to understand differences in radiosensitivity between individuals that will be important for medical therapies, and to learn more about how cancer start and progresses. The work began with the $30,000 from the NZ War Pensions Medical Research Trust which Ruth McKenzie is using to collect data on family histories of the New Zealand test veterans which we are analysing in Dundee. Now we can go on to actual radiobiological studies of UK men who were at the same tests as the NZ men, and compare the health status of the two groups of veterans. It's very pleasing that New Zealand, which took such a leadership role in the nuclear free zone movement of the 1980s, has honoured its duty of care to its nuclear veterans in this way and I am optimistic that the Australian, Fijian and UK governments will also find the research valuable in addressing questions of appropriate medical care and compensation within the very near future."

In 1999 the Australian Minister for Veterans' Affairs Mr Bruce Scott announced that he was commissioning a new study into the effects on the 14,000 Australians present at the UK nuclear weapons tests following a review of Roff's 1999 report on Mortality and Morbidity of Members of the British Nuclear Tests Veterans Association and the New Zealand Nuclear Tests Veterans Associations and Their Families (Medicine, Conflict and Survival, Supp 1 Volume 15 July-Sept 1999).

It is understood that the NZNTVA is planning to investigate the potential for legal actions against the UK government for compensation for the nuclear veterans with the other part of the government's one-time grant. Similar attempts to sue the UK government by three members of the British Nuclear Tests Veterans Association at the European Court of Human Rights have failed but on legal technicalities rather than on evidential grounds.

Contact: Roy Sefton QSM Chair NZNTVA tel/fax NZ 00646 358 4841

Sue Rabbitt Roff, Centre for Medical Education, University of Dundee Medical School tel: UK 01382 631958/ fax: UK 01382 645748 (home tel 01333 312131)